Sunday, January 1, 2012

3 Christmases & Looking Ahead

Christmas Eve with the Jackson's
We spent Christmas Eve Day at Grandma Jackson's house in Kansas. Steve's 3 brothers & their families gathered for our annual get-together. We had 2 little helpers on hand to help deliver gifts: 1 wasn't very helpful at all...
...and the other was a blur, constantly on the go & full of energy!
Daddy & Reece taking it all in. Reece enjoyed all of the excitement that surrounded him.
Garrett's first gift was a "gee-tar" from Grandma Jackson. He started strumming a tune as soon as it came out of the box!
Garrett had fun helping Reece open his gifts too.

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Day @ Grandma Jackson's. Reece was the first to the tree, checking out all the gifts Santa had left.
There were 2 main toys in Garrett's Christmas List to Santa:
1. A yellow school bus
2. A yellow tractor

He must have been VERY good last year, because Santa fulfilled both requests!

Santa also threw in some Toy Story items, including Woody & Buzz character pj's & a shaving kit like Daddy's!
Look at those baby blues!
Santa also helped Garrett increase his herds of livestock.

Christmas in Iowa

We celebrated a third Christmas with my mom & brother at our home in Iowa. We found some gifts Santa had left for us all while we were in Kansas, so we opened them all together New Year's Eve morning.
Garrett found his full stocking hanging above the fireplace.
What's in there???
Reece & Uncle Dave relaxing on the sofa. At this point in the day, Reece was even-tempered...however, as the day progressed, he became more & more irritable. His recent interest in chewing on everything, low-grade fevers, and grumpiness have led us to believe he will soon be sporting some little white teeth. Until then, we pray that he doesn't suffer too much discomfort.
By New Year's Day, Reece was back to somewhat normal. He did a lot of napping, but also enjoyed some cuddling with Nana.
Uncle Dave helped Garrett learn to play his new memory game. He caught on quick, and seemed to enjoy playing the game!

We have been blessed with another Very Merry Christmas spent with family and friends. We also experienced a wonderful 2011, highlighted by the arrival of Garrett's baby brother, Reece.

Our 2012 will begin with many changes as we prepare to move "home" to Steve's hometown, El Dorado, Kansas. I got a job at Butler College, and will be doing pretty much the same job I've been doing at Iowa Central. We have a house to sell, boxes to pack, and lots of arrangements to make in a very short time...but we are excited to move our boys closer to family.
We appreciate any & all prayers for our family as we make our next move.

Happy New Year!

2 comments:

The Currys said...

It looks like you guys had a great bunch of holiday parties. Wish we could have been there. BTW, you might move them "home" to KS, but they will always be "Born in Iowa". I think it is sad that you and Steve don't have that benefit. :) We look forward to visiting you in Kansas.

Kyle and Darci said...

Looks like a wonderful Christmas! You made my eyes well up reading the last paragraph! I'm so happy for your guys...BUT I'm going to miss you SO much!!!